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We in the states have heard that you may be opening the borders to our queens and packages this spring. Have you heard anything? This may drive up our prices very high so it would by nice to have a heads up.

The letter following this article has been circulating in
Canada recently and may be of interest to BEE-L readers.

Now that

1. Both mites are widely distributed in Canada, and

2. NAFTA, was signed a while back, committing Canada,
the US, and Mexico to lowering trade restrictions, and

3. Since, over the past decade and a half it has
become obvious that cutting off trade with the US
has been very harmful to many Canadian beekeepers,
not to mention the southern beekeepers who lost a
major portion of their package and queen business

4. Powerful opposition to the ban is building in Canada

5. Some US and Canadian beekeepers are complaining
about favouritism shown to new Zealand and Australia
even though NZ has varroa -- and has exported infested
bees -- and AUS has SHB, and since Australia, moreover
does not test exhaustively for varroa incursion, and since

6. Beekeeping in most of Canada is very highly dependent on
annual imports of stock from warmer regions

7. US beekeepers have demonstrated that they are able to
maintain healthy bees in spite of the mites.

8. There is
a. No evidence that AHB genes are not already in Canada
b. No evidence that AHB has proven to be a public health
menace in a developed temperate country as fear mongers
had predicted

At this point, there is little justification for maintaining an
embargo on
US mainland bees and CFIA is relaxing the ban on mainland queens and
is
re-examining the legitimacy of maintaining the package bee ban, and
considering ways and timeframes to phase it out.

I have dealt with the issue in several pages of my diary -- http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/ -- over the summer and
editorialized on
the question as well. For those interested, just start at the
current page,
and go back a few pages. (Sorry, but I have not isolated the border
discussion from the background noise of my life chronicled there).

At any rate, this is the time for any US parties who feel they have
an
interest in this matter to stand up and be counted. Many of us see
no
reason for any border controls on bees whatsoever, inasmuch as
economic
beekeeping in Canada is very highly dependent on annual imports of
stock
from warmer regions. Wide-open two-way trade could be very
beneficial to
beekeepers in both Canada and the US.

Please write, fax and phone your position to the parties listed
below and
to the Canadian Honey Council http://www.honeycouncil.ca/ and to
provincial
organisations. Also your congressman, etc. Attend the upcoming
Canadian
meetings.

allen

--- begin quoted letter ---

Subject: Importation of Honeybee Queens from Continental US

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is proposing to amend
the
current regulation that prohibits the importation of honeybees from
the
continental United States. The amendment will allow the importation
of
honeybee queens and their attendants from the continental U.S.
Packaged bees
will continue to be prohibited from importation.

This action is being undertaken after CFIA was advised of major
shortages
of available queens in many provinces during the spring of 2003 and
was
requested to review Canada's import policies for honeybees. The risk
assessment on the importation of U.S. bees also determined that the
import
of honeybee queens poses a lesser disease risk than packaged bees.

The proposed amendment will not result in the uncontrolled entry of
honeybee queens into Canada. The existing provisions of the Health of
Animal
Regulations require importation to occur with the use of an import
permit.
The conditions of the import permit will be further developed with
industry
and other stakeholders

Could you please circulate this to the provincial apiculturists and
regional industry associations. If there are comments or concerns at
this
time, I would ask that they be forwarded to Dr. Samira Belaissaoui,
Staff
Veterinarian, at belaissaouis@i... or by facsimile to
(613)
228-6630. I would also remind Canadian Stakeholders that they will
have an
opportunity to comment on the proposed amendment following its
publication
in the Canada Gazette I.

In November's Bee Culture, there will be
a statement from Heather Clay, who is
very involved in the consideration of
the "Canadian border" issue.

Without stealing her thunder, I can say:

1) The border is NOT yet "open".

2) The ban is being "reconsidered",
nothing more.

My &gt;&gt;GUESS&lt;&lt; is that they will allow
queens under an inspection protocol,
but will hesitate to allow packages,
since they are difficult to inspect
for pests/diseases.

While I agree that Canada needs an
inspection protocol, it will be interesting
to see if Canada is smart enough to realize
that common sense AND "fair trade" requires
them to apply the same inspection protocol
to ALL imports, which would mean inspecting
bees from NZ and Austrailia, which are currently imported without any formal inspection protocol.

Ian: You know of course that I have exactly as much control over "American" trade policies as you have over "Canadian" trade policies. I've always figured that of any country the Canadians are the best friends we've ever had. And except for that war we started back in the 1800's (Manifest Destiny was the in thing) where you kicked our butts, we've gotten along pretty well ever since.